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POLITICO 44

A robust youth turnout could potentially turn the tide for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine. Corzine is only 1 percentage point behind Republican Chris Christie, according to a recent Public Policy Polling survey, and Rasmussen Reports labels Deeds as trailing opponent Bob McDonnell by 7 points. Both men have unleashed a college campus blitz in recent weeks, hoping student voters will give them the bump they need to inch past their opponents.

Young voters between the ages of 18 and 29 supported Obama in Virginia and New Jersey by 60 percent and 67 percent, respectively. Obama carried New Jersey by a whopping 15 points and became the first Democrat in 44 years to carry Virginia.

In New Jersey, about 377,000 of the 560,000 young voters who showed up at the polls supported Obama. In Virginia, about 373,000 out of 621,000 young voters backed Obama.

But some young Democrats say that energy surge has begun to dissipate and student political involvement for the 2009 races has returned to normal — before the Obama phenomenon seemed to transfix young voters.

At the University of Virginia last October, political signs plastered dorm room walls, and campaign volunteers saturated the campus.

Now, volunteers canvassing first-year dorms report that many students have no idea who Deeds is.

“Last year, every single person knew who Barack Obama was,” said University Democrats President Megan Durkee. “There are a lot more people who haven’t heard of Deeds and the gubernatorial race.”

Historically, gubernatorial races suffer from low voter turnout across all age groups. Experts already expect less than half of last year’s electorate will cast a vote in either state. And young voters are often one of the first age groups politicians lose in an off-year election, making it vital for Democrats to round up a solid showing, according to Peter Levine, director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

“In 2009, turnout will be dramatically lower as it always is in off-year elections,” Levine said. “Democrats will need every young voter they can get.”

But students who powered the Democrats’ political victories last year seem to be less interested in the gubernatorial elections, a seemingly overnight change.

“President Obama was an exception. Gubernatorial and congressional races still don’t generate young people’s interest,” said Princeton University public affairs professor Julian Zelizer. “I rarely hear anyone talking about this race. I have yet to have a student ask me anything about Corzine or Christie.”

New voters haven’t entirely dropped from the political process. A number of college Democrats say their membership numbers are steadily climbing and that more students are likely to become interested in the races during the final weeks. Those who are tuned in to the campaigns say they’ve been impressed by the extensive outreach both campaigns are making on social media forums including Facebook and Twitter, and by the campaigns’ grass-roots efforts on campuses.

“You always get people with every election year who are interested just because it’s a presidential election,” said Lauren Gilbert, president of James Madison University Young Democrats. “But there’s still a lot of potential here.”

But both campaigns have also battled a series of scheduling conflicts for some of their campus events. Most have attracted smaller audiences.

Will the youth being harassed by the Democrats in New Jersey and Virginia have the intelligence to get in the face of the Democrats and tell them to STOP DESTROYING the futures of the youth of America with the insurmountable debt being piled up by this president and both houses of Congress?

Will the youth being harassed by the Democrats in New Jersey and Virginia have the intelligence to get in the face of the Democrats and tell them to STOP DESTROYING the futures of the youth of America with the insurmountable debt being piled up by this president and both houses of Congress?

Young people are not dumb. They were led to believe that Obama was a different type of politician. He lied along with the democratic party. No change. Just a thug from Chicago. It is going to be payback time, especially when these bills for all this spending come in. 5 to 10 years the democratic party is going to be toast. Remember it is going to be their generation that pays for this.

If Democrats in VA and NJ don't spend the time and money to reach out to young voters of course they won't come out to vote. The reason that Obama got them to come out in such huge amounts is he asked them, he invested in peer to peer outreach, and he had a reasonable strategy using every tool available from targeted ad buys to online outreach to canvasing in areas heavy in youth voters.

If Corzine and Deeds don't do the same thing, of course young people won't come out. Duhh!

Keep dreaming Demorats, college students have caught on that you are full of ****, incompetent and bad for this country. College students are smart, they catch on quickly, unlike welfare babies that keep pulling the lever for guvment money.

Dems bet the farm on a narcissistic, power hungry, wanna-be dictator and will pay for it big time.

Nobody wants to see America turn into Venezuela or Cuba, nobody except Obama and his left-wing buddies.

What could the GOP possibly offer young people? Fear? Hostility? Negativity? The GOP (not to mention social conservatives) want to turn back the 21st century. Maybe when they stop being the party of No, and stop rooting for America to fail at every instance they will find an audience among younger voters (i.e., younger than 65 years old). That said, the photo looks a little dodgy.

f Democrats in VA and NJ don't spend the time and money to reach out to young voters of course they won't come out to vote. The reason that Obama got them to come out in such huge amounts is he asked them, he invested in peer to peer outreach, and he had a reasonable strategy using every tool available from targeted ad buys to online outreach to canvasing in areas heavy in youth voters.

If Corzine and Deeds don't do the same thing, of course young people won't come out. Duhh!

EXACTLY. Deeds has not connected with youth or the black community for that matter. Nobody knows who he is. His ads are too negative. The thesis attack isn't working so move on already.

f Democrats in VA and NJ don't spend the time and money to reach out to young voters of course they won't come out to vote. The reason that Obama got them to come out in such huge amounts is he asked them, he invested in peer to peer outreach, and he had a reasonable strategy using every tool available from targeted ad buys to online outreach to canvasing in areas heavy in youth voters.

If Corzine and Deeds don't do the same thing, of course young people won't come out. Duhh!

EXACTLY. Deeds has not connected with youth or the black community for that matter. Nobody knows who he is. His ads are too negative. The thesis attack isn't working so move on already.

Creigh Deeds' worst enemies are his TVLand name and his paradisaic origin, Warm Springs, Virginia. That he chose to move from heaven to Richmond makes me question his judgement.

So far he doesn't appear to be getting his message out. Granted, the message about McDonnell's inner workings is the most important caveat of the campaign, but I would like to see Deeds push himself a little more.

Consider that most of your voters are babyboomers and older, Creigh. They like McDonnell's cement hairdo and consistent smile/grimace. They like his plump blonde daughters and wife. There's a football being thrown around in one of his ads, I believe. That football will bring in ten thousand votes.

Hey, how about a future in which thier dreams and aspirations aren't curshed by govt meddling and social experimentation and a future in which they aren't burdned with an unsustainable federal debt burden.

Hey, how about a future in which thier dreams and aspirations aren't curshed by govt meddling and social experimentation and a future in which they aren't burdned with an unsustainable federal debt burden.

Which means that young people are in fact, dumb. Smart people could discern the difference between a foreign born Communist that thinks of people as cattle doing his bidding and ... what was he offering again.. "Hope and Change".

Again. No, young people are in fact quite stupid. Nobody signs a contract with Hope and Change as the criteria. Nobody intelligent.

Leftists have always needed naive idealism for theor ideology to flourish...the unemployment rate among the young in this country has the 20-somethings scratching their heads about change you can believe in.

I live near two (2) very well known university's and I can tell you that they do NOT vote unless it's considered the IN thing to do.

If you listen to them in the shops they care about the next party or next weeks game.

Some don't know we have three branches of government.

Many don't know how States are divided into Congressional districts.

While it's true that there are groups devoted to being political such as Campus Progress and they recruit and sign up voters just as ACORN does, many will not bother to vote nor should they if they don't educate themselves about issues.

What could the GOP possibly offer young people? Fear? Hostility? Negativity? The GOP (not to mention social conservatives) want to turn back the 21st century. Maybe when they stop being the party of No, and stop rooting for America to fail at every instance they will find an audience among younger voters (i.e., younger than 65 years old). That said, the photo looks a little dodgy.

The young people I know prefer truth to lies, honesty to dishonesty, conservative values to abortion, money to poverty, individual responsibility to government welfare handouts, and capitalism to socialism.

Indeed, everything the current administration stands for is abhorrent to many of our college-age students. In fact, some I have spoken to literally HATE- and I do mean it in the true sense of the word-HATE Obama and his minions.

Counting on that group to support the current rush to a welfare state is absurd. They will be one of the strongest voices AGAINST these policies as soon as they realize their future is at stake.

What can the GOP offer young people? Everything they enjoyed before Obama came along.

The political process will never be the same again after the community organizer extraordinaire blew in from the Windy City. We are now the ACORN Nation! Obama is now recruiting and soliciting first graders...a criminal act! He is a political child molester!